Re: What is the quintessential Apple II?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

mdj wrote:

> Despite the larger chipcount, I prefer the earlier IIe motherboard,
> since it doesn't have that evil RF suppression hack which messes with
> the gameport.

Matt, if you want to re-enable your game port on a late mainboard II,
just snip one lead on C94, C95, and C96, just in front of the cassette
input and output jacks.  (If you feel strongly about it, snip *both*
leads.  ;-)

> I always felt the hardware improvements over the original machine were
> modest, and in keeping with the spirit of the Apple II. The built in
> 80-column hardware works well, and the auxiliary memory + double res
> graphics modes feel like very natural extensions.

Yep--they grow directly out of the older ][ video circuitry after
it's naturally extended to 80-columns.

> The IIe also has the least number of things I dislike. In fact the only
> thing I really dislike was the decision to mess with the memory bank
> switches on reset. For me, it impaired the machines usability while
> developing, and should only have been employed for the warm-boot cycle.
> Another nice to have would have been allowing the disk controller
> firmware to timeout and pass control to the next slot - not a IIe
> specific thing admittedly, but the UniDisk/AppleDisk controller card
> wasn't really used for any other machine so it counts, just.

While we're on the subject, the decision to dance through memory
trampling on it on RESET was a shame, too.

> Must have expansions for me are a RamWorks card, accelerator, and some
> form of mass storage device. I also can't do without the mouse card,
> but not for the mouse - for the VBL interrupt, and you can have my RGB
> output when you pry my cold dead hands off it. I keep the superdrive
> plugged in as 1.44mb compatibility makes shipping data back and
> forwards easy. Unfortunately, my PC and IIe are too far apart to easily
> use the Workstation card, which I used to love, as it allows networked
> volumes (Asimov at your fingertips!)

It's too bad that they didn't provide the VBL interrupt in the //e, like
they did in the //c--but that's just the arrow of time.

> But it's all subjective. Whichever you prefer probably depends on which
> Apple II 'era' you had the most exposure to, which for me was the
> 128k(+) enhanced IIe/IIc. I do however think it's difficult to argue
> that the enhanced firmware isn't a substantial improvement over what we
> had with the II+

I'm especially pleased that interrupts became so much more usable.

In the early days of the Apple ][, I think it's safe to say that Woz
hadn't contemplated much practical use for the IRQ.

-michael

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